The Experience Boost Event (3)
Each-Sal-Beop.
A community literally named “How to Survive as an Awakened.”
It was founded the moment the first large-scale awakening incident broke out. The board exploded in popularity as people began uploading survival tips, monster strategies, and raid guides.
That was also when the brutal ranking of awakeners really took off.
This wasn’t the usual Korean obsession with splitting people by car model or apartment size.
Who you partied with was directly tied to whether you lived or died. So naturally, people became vicious about drawing lines.
In a way, these people were experiencing firsthand why humanity invented prejudice in the first place.
Anyone who lived through the early awakening days would probably nod along.
And that didn’t change even after the world moved on to Chapter 2.
“Realism” here meant survival of the fittest. The weak were simply not respected.
Despite all the hardships they faced, melee classes received neither material nor emotional rewards. They had to endure open contempt, blatant disregard, and outright ostracism from their own party members.
Still, a surprising number of melee awakeners who survived Chapter 1 refused to give up.
It was strange. Why refuse to abandon such a brutal path?
According to Professor Kim Yu-sik of S University—who recently founded a gate studies department—these people seemed to have developed a deep-seated obsession with remaining awakened and fighting monsters.
They were terrified, sometimes heartbroken, sometimes in despair… yet they refused to quit.
But all that pent-up resentment kept piling up.
That was when Sagosul appeared like a beacon of hope.
Kang Hae-il was so overwhelmingly powerful with magic that people didn’t even consider him a pure melee class. But Sagosul—who fought using all kinds of weapons at extreme close range—was melee through and through.
Most importantly, Sagosul had never publicly revealed his awakening rank. That gave low-rank awakeners something to cling to.
Logically they knew he had to be S-rank, but they couldn’t completely kill the hope. Especially since his fights didn’t look like flashy skill spam from high-rankers.
Sagosul fought with a crescent blade, but they couldn’t see it. In the beginning he had even used a utility knife. So of course he became an icon of hope for melee classes.
Naturally, the mainstream awakeners mocked these opinions.
Besides, Sagosul didn’t appear nearly as often as Kang Hae-il or the other famous mages. He showed up only at the most critical moments. That was his signature.
So normally the public opinion stayed quiet, but every time a big event happened, the melee classes seized the chance to wage their own information war.
And right now, that moment had arrived.
The World Boss battle.
The eyes of the entire world were focused here. The most important moment of this chapter. There was no way Sagosul wouldn’t appear.
And he was putting on a spectacular show.
The scene of him fighting an entire squad of Death Knights was enough to bring tears to every melee awakener’s eyes.
Especially because he wasn’t using any flashy ultimate skills or the cheat-like abilities that high-rankers loved to show off. Some people genuinely believed that if they studied Sagosul, they could become like him too.
But what moved them most was Sagosul’s dazzling spirit of sacrifice(?).
Rank 1) He’s buying time for us to level up right now.
He’s ignoring the main body and just going “Is that all you’ve got?”
His speed is fast enough to hit the main body but he’s deliberately staying away.
Sagosul is just stalling for time.
Why?
So as many awakeners as possible can level up.
So we can’t give up either. Hurry up and level. They say a ton of easy gates just spawned.
They had completely misinterpreted Junil’s plan to lure summons so he could level up.
Thanks to that, Sagosul was starting to receive near-saint-level worship from them.
And that worship only grew stronger when compared to others.
(Video of Kang Hae-il’s party struggling against two Death Knights)
Kang Hae-il had openly declared from the beginning that he would kill the World Boss, which earned him the permanent hatred of low-rank awakeners.
This was all going exactly according to Junil’s plan.
He had already planted the concept of “ladder kicking” among the awakeners. The high-rankers were now viewed with nothing but resentment.
The funny thing was that Sagosul—who was actually far stronger—was completely exempt from that frame simply because he hid his rank.
When public opinion improved in reality, it also had a huge effect on the Constellations.
It was a kind of marketing effect.
He had already experienced it several times during his days as a hero.
Current Constellations Watching: 3,481
The explosive increase in viewers was probably thanks to that as well.
Junil felt the grip on his sword tighten ever so slightly as he stared at the enemies before him.
Death Knight Lv.51
Death Knight Lv.50
Death Knight Lv.54
Unlike the ones summoned earlier, these three moved with complete composure. Instead of rushing in, they slowly drew their weapons and stared at Junil.
This won’t be easy.
Even Junil couldn’t charge in recklessly. Each one of them was on a completely different level from the previous foes.
After all, the Belzera he had fought in the Archidia gate had been level 50. If there were three of those, even he couldn’t guarantee victory.
I don’t think I can do this alone.
He needed support from his allies.
What the hell are those idiots doing?
The ones who were supposed to help him were still locked in a bloody battle with level 40 Death Knights.
“Sigh.”
Junil glanced over at them and let out a long sigh.
The Constellations seemed to feel the same way and were loving it.
Yeah. These guys really are all I have.
Watching the chat, Junil felt it again. Maybe they were the only ones who truly understood him.
Sometimes they roasted him mercilessly and treated him harshly, but in the end, they might be the hero’s only true companions.
Current Constellations Watching: 3,510
The number had just surpassed 3,500. It had exceeded thirty percent of Julian’s viewership.
The old feeling was slowly coming back.
Woooong…!
This is doable.
Junil slowly walked toward the Death Knights.
The three Death Knights silently drew their swords.
The remaining eight circled around to surround him.
Step. Step…
The footsteps of the dead filled the area.
Clatter…!
Some of them dragged iron maces across the ground, creating a horrible scraping noise.
No one had made the first move yet, but in their minds they had already fought this battle several times.
Soon that battle would become reality.
Junil’s eyes darted around, trying to predict where the first attack would come from.
Even for a veteran hero like him, this was a tense moment.
Even if I kill all of them… will I even reach level 30?
The fundamental worry came first. It was hard enough to kill them, but would killing them actually get him to level 30? If not, then all of this would be pointless.
When anxiety enters the sword, hesitation follows, and defeat is inevitable.
Did any of the Constellations know that?
An anonymous Constellation has sponsored you!
A sponsorship had arrived. At such a critical moment, it must have been expensive.
Triple Experience Points for the next 2 hours
It was an experience multiplier event. A cheaper alternative to directly giving experience.
Junil almost sent a thank-you message like the Constellations but barely held himself back.
At that moment, the highest-level Death Knight opened its mouth.
“Dross.”
For a second Junil thought it was a spell incantation.
“That is my name.”
It was an introduction.
“I thought I should tell you my name.”
Knights revealed their names only to opponents they acknowledged as worthy of a true duel.
Dross Lv.54
He was a named monster.
“I am Sagosul.”
Junil also showed the knight proper courtesy.
The eyes behind the mask met the eyes of the dead knight.
“A strange name.”
“Dress isn’t much better.”
Shing—
Dross raised his sword. A cold aura swirled violently around the blade.
Whoooooooosh…!
It was qualitatively different from the ones he had faced before.
This guy…
He must have been a formidable knight in life.